Iron Warriors
The Iron Warriors are a Loyalist First Founding Space Marine Legion known for their mastery at siege-craft, both in defence and assault. They are the grim, cold-hearted masters of the science of war among the Space Marines, exemplars of strength and discipline turned exclusively to the systematic destruction of an enemy. The Legion was commanded by its Primarch Perturabo as an extension of his own mind and body, the will of each Legionary utterly sublimated to his conception of victory. More so than in any other Legion, the life of each warrior was secondary to his duty, as much a resource to be expended in the relentless calculus of war as bolt shell or lascannon charge. The IVth Legion has garnered a reputation for ruthlessness and as master-strategists, and are very adept at tearing down every impregnable fortress or unassailable citadel that dares to defy the Emperor's will. Armored with a suspicion borne of bitter experience, the Iron Warriors have often been labeled paranoid, but as the events of the Dornian Heresy proved, not even brother Astartes can be trusted implicitly. As consummate siege-masters, they were instrumental in the success of the Great Crusade, and after the Betrayal they refortified the Imperium to withstand assaults from within as well as without. While other legions place their trust in dangerous psychic powers or the superstition of blind faith, the Iron Warriors depend instead upon thick walls, overwhelming firepower and meticulous planning to ensure victory. Legion History Founded as its brother-Legions were on Terra during the closing stages of the Unification Wars which presaged the Emperor's Great Crusade in the middle centuries of the 30th Millennium, considerable surface level detail on the origins of the IVth Legion remains. Its first muster grounds are noted to have been founded atop the wreckage of a recidivist fortress on the Auro Plateau of Sek-Amrak. The warlike gun-tribes, blood grieves and Tek-enclaves in the surrounding area provided the Legion with much of its earliest waves of recruits as the recalcitrant region was brought fully into the fold of Terran Unification, rapidly becoming one of the most stalwart of Loyalist domains. Documentary evidence attests that the IVth Legion gene-seed showed an above-average adaptability and rates of implant rejection were notably low, particularly in comparison with difficulties in large-scale implantation encountered with other Progenoid types, which would not be eliminated until the acquisition of the gene-labs of Luna. This advantage meant that the IVth Legion's fighting strength was built rapidly, expanding to several fully battle-ready battalions in size while some of the other nascent Legions were still yet unable to field more than an active century. This in turn meant that the IVth Legion was very swiftly put to active-service alongside the Ist and Vth Legions (the as-yet unnamed Dark Angels and White Scars). The Legion fought first on Terra in the destruction of the final resisting elements there and then throughout the pacification of Terra's Solar System. It appears that the IVth Legion's early successes were accordingly rewarded with primary resupply of newer classes of weapons and war machines as they were made available from the Emperor's alliance with Mars, as well as a noteworthy short-term increased intake of Terran recruits originally intended for the IIIrd Legion (Emperor's Children), swelling its numbers further to replace ongoing losses accrued in battle. It was by this gene-seed adaptability and proven success in battle that the IVth Legion became one of the most numerous of the Legiones Astartes during the earliest years of the Great Crusade, enabling its forces to successfully split between several substantial early Expeditionary Fleets. As the forces of the Great Crusade went beyond the boundaries of the Segmentum Solar, pushing onwards with the Great Crusade's expansion, several sources note that the IVth Legion -- which was not to be united with its Primarch until the late 840s.M30 -- had quickly lost any specific ties to Terra, either by culture or indeed recruit intake pattern, although as it pushed ever onwards at the forefront of expansion, its military formation remained rigidly unchanged. The IVth Legion's adherence to the organisational structures, fighting methods and panoply laid out as a pattern for the Legiones Astartes at the very beginning of the Great Crusade remained consistent, with no fresh "stamp" of culture brought by interaction with a Primarch for many Terran years. As a result, its methods of warfare too went largely unaltered, regardless of circumstances or enemy, and the Legion was wont to overcome any obstacles or difficulties they faced with relentless and meticulously applied force of arms alone rather than cunning stratagem or bloody-handed heroics. These combined factors set them out as being increasingly different from many of their brother-Legions as by this period of the Great Crusade, most Space Marine Legions were now divergent from the basic Terran pattern set as the template during their first muster, regardless of whether or not they had been united with their Primarch. Unlike the IVth Legion, their brother-Legions had, within the space of a few short decades, evolved to demonstrate recognisable and, in some cases, extreme character traits and modes of warfare of their own that erred considerably from the basic pattern, and to these the constancy and pragmatism of the IVth Legion's operations stood out in contrast. These traits labelled them as unimaginative, mechanistic and even honourless fighters in the minds of certain other Space Marine Legions and their masters. Despite such criticism, the Great Crusade's High Command saw these traits as positive factors, making the IVth Legion arguably more reliable in deployment than some of the more esoteric Legions and more ready to meet commands from outside their own Legion without complaint. Accordingly, the IVth Legion was increasingly used to fight often inglorious but vital campaigns of backbreaking attrition and drawn-out bloodshed, and they became in short a "workhorse" Legion, relied upon both for their martial power and their reliability in following orders to the letter. The Lord of Iron The Emperor created the Primarchs to be paragons of humanity that would lead His armies of conquest, and sensing the threat they posed, the Chaos Gods scattered the infants throughout the galaxy. It is a testament to their Emperor-given abilities and strength of will that, in most cases, they rose to positions of power within their respective societies. In his Speculum Historiale, Carpinus famously proposed that the character of each of the Primarchs had been shaped by the cultures in which they were raised, with special mention made of Perturabo and the world of his youth. Olympia was a world divided into mountainous city-states, with open conflict held in check by the heavy fortifications and strong defenses that had been honed over the centuries. By the time The Emperor reached Olympia, Perturabo had risen to command the armies of Lochos, one of the city-states. His innate skills allowed him to not only mastermind the successful invasion of several of the neighboring city-states, breaking hundreds of years of stalemate, but also to confound the pre-emptive strikes from those who feared they would be next. Perturabo was a genius in the arts of siege-craft, but when it came to matters of human interaction, he was cold and detached. All through his youth he had been plagued by loneliness and haunted by the mystery of his own origins. This disconnection was not evident when he was first reunited with his true father, The Emperor. Instantly recognizing the bond between them, and finally able to discover the reason for his existence, Perturabo greeted Him with a warmth he had not realized was possible. As they talked, Perturabo came to see his father’s Great Crusade as more than just an exercise in toppling the defenses of worlds that opposed them, but as a means of bringing rationalism and enlightenment to a galaxy mired in superstition. As the first step, The Emperor gifted him the Fourth Legion of Adeptus Astartes, and bade him unify Olympia under his command. The former rulers of the city-states were outraged to find themselves reduced to the status of vassals, but under the circumstances they were powerless to prevent it. Perturabo remolded the Iron Warriors to his own ideals, but in speaking with his techmarines, it became apparent that there was still much for him to learn. While his legion prepared, Perturabo undertook a journey to the tech-adepts of Mars that, for less of a rationalist, might have been called a pilgrimage. He amazed the magos with his powers of analytical reason, and absorbed the accumulated wisdom of the red planet at an astonishing rate. Mars became almost a second home to Perturabo, but eventually the time came for him to apply all he had learned in the Great Crusade. The Great Crusade Perturabo had trained his legion well, and the Iron Warriors’ abilities in combat engineering and siege warfare made them highly effective at bringing worlds into the burgeoning Imperium. Seemingly without effort they were able to determine the most efficient route to circumvent enemy defenses and bring their bastions crashing down. While the Iron Warriors became essential to the continued momentum of the Great Crusade, their reserved demeanor meant that all-too frequently the credit for their efforts was claimed by others. Perturabo had little need for glory, but he recognized the damaging effect this was having on the morale and effectiveness of his battle-brothers, who did not share his level of clinical detachment. This frustration may have played a part in turning the rivalry between the Iron Warriors and Rogal Dorn’s Imperial Fists from professional disagreements over siege methodology to outright loathing. The campaign on the planet of Schravann had been so hard fought that four Primarchs were present by its conclusion. At the banquet held to celebrate victory, Horus Lupercal of the Luna Wolves warmly praised the Iron Warriors for their achievements, which included the destruction of the final enemy citadel, and proclaimed Perturabo to be the finest exponent of siege warfare in the Imperium. Rogal Dorn, however, disagreed, and said that the Imperial Palace on Terra, which he had designed and his Imperial Fists guarded, was impregnable, and proof against any attack. Perturabo, with cold logic, pointed out that having studied the blueprints, he had found a number of vulnerabilities that a determined attacker could exploit, and further estimated that if the need arose his Iron Warriors could breach the walls within two months. At this, the hall exploded into uproar, as the Imperial Fists accused Perturabo of traitorous intent and of plotting to kill The Emperor. Amid accusation and insult, Perturabo’s genuine intention – to offer suggestions on how The Emperor’s security could be improved – was drowned out, and only the intervention of Horus and Fulgrim prevented the affair degenerating into bloodshed. Unsurprisingly, Schravann was the last planet on which these two legions fought as allies. After many decades of success, the Great Crusade’s momentum began to falter. It had pushed out from Terra at such a rate that supply lines had become overstretched and vulnerable. Horus, one of the few Primarchs that Perturabo could truly call a friend, asked for his advice concerning the problem which threatened to stall their progress. He concluded that important strategic worlds were falling prey to raiders, or even trying to secede from the Imperium, and that the forces assigned to guard them were unequal to the task. When Horus asked Perturabo for his opinion on the best way to solve these problems, the recommendation was that these strategic worlds be garrisoned by Astartes, and knowing that his legion was by far the best suited for the position, he volunteered his Iron Warriors. While the logic of this was undeniable, it had a disastrous effect on the legion’s morale. They became warriors without a war, isolated and spread out thinly across the galaxy in numbers sometimes as small as a single squad. With supply lines secured, the expeditions moved ever further from Terra, which in turn necessitated the creation of ever more garrisons. The number of Iron Warriors remaining on the front lines dwindled to the point where they were unable to operate efficiently on their own, and became increasingly reliant upon others to carry out their battle plans. This came to the fore at Ullanor, where Horus was named Warmaster of the Great Crusade in The Emperor’s stead. This honor was due in part to the unprecedented tally of worlds brought into compliance by the Sons of Horus, a number that would not have been nearly as high had it not been for the sacrifice and support of the Iron Warriors. With a brittle calm that belied the tension beneath, Perturabo discussed this with the Warmaster. Using irrefutable logic, he explained that the garrisoned worlds had been stabilized to the point where his legion’s skills were being wasted. He continued to push, noting the increased resistance being encountered by the expeditions, and that in his opinion his legion was the best suited to bolster the offensive. In the face of Perturabo’s clinical assessment of the situation, Horus relented, and sensing that their hunger for battle could be used for the good of the Great Crusade, he reassigned nearly half of the garrisons to the stewardship of the Imperial Fists. Liberated from the stifling confines of endless garrison duty, the Iron Warriors returned to the front lines with an uncharacteristic enthusiasm. They set out to prove their worth so comprehensively that the Warmaster would have no choice but to release the other half of their legion. From the cleansing of the Hrud warrens on Gugann, which had resisted Imperial forces for decades, to the toppling of the living crystal fortresses of the Khugee, it seemed as though nothing could stand before their implacable advance. Even the disastrous news that the Ultramarines were poised to secede from the Imperium was taken as a chance to prove their worth. Loathe as he was to place his legion under the command of Rogal Dorn, who was to lead the assault, Perturabo pledged the Iron Warriors to the task of bringing Guilliman to heel at Istvaan. The astropathic message he received in response was as curt as it was cryptic. It simply said, "A legion that cannot even hold its homeworld has no place facing other Astartes." Urgent communications with Olympia did indeed reveal that rioting had broken out all across the planet. Angry mobs roamed freely through the streets, attacking Imperial buildings and calling for the return of independence. It appeared that the former rulers of the city-states had moved from embittered resentfulness to open revolt in their attempts to reclaim power. In the confusion no-one thought to ask how Dorn had known of the riots so quickly, and by the time they did, the Heresy had already claimed three loyal legions. The Dornian Heresy With their homeworld in rebellion, Perturabo ordered the Iron Warriors to return to Olympia with all haste. While in transit, news reached them from Warmaster Horus of Dorn’s betrayal at Istvaan, and of the daemonic forces that stood ready to plunge the Imperium into civil war. Though Perturabo was initially dismissive about the existence of such creatures of nightmare, it seemed that their distrust and dislike of Dorn had been well founded. Only much later, long after the slaughter of the Heresy and the Iron Cage worlds, did the full extent of Dorn's plans come to light. Istvaan had been designed as a trap to crush the legions Dorn had been unable to convert to the path of the Ruinous Powers. Rather than running the risk of the Iron Warriors seeing Istvaan for the ambush it was, Dorn's agents had instead fomented an uprising on Olympia to draw them far out of position for the coming war. Thankfully, they had underestimated the strength of the recently reinforced Olympian garrison, which was able to rapidly re-impose order and started rooting out the Chaos demagogues and their misguided followers. Confident in the knowledge that his homeworld was secure, Perturabo redirected the fleet towards the planet he was certain would be Dorn's ultimate destination – Terra. While they had previously been resentful of their garrison worlds, on their journey it became obvious how effective they were at maintaining order, and of the vital role they played in keeping open the loyalists’ supply lines. Much less welcome were the garrisons they had only recently vacated in favor of the Imperial Fists, which were performing much the same task for the traitor’s cause. There was no time to raze them, but Perturabo vowed to his legion that they would return to reclaim them as soon as Dorn’s insurrection had been crushed. Above all things, they must reach Terra and save The Emperor, as to lose Him would be to lose everything. This mantra was hardest to bear when they heard the pleas from their allies on Mars. They were under attack not just from their Chaos-infected brethren and the fallen Titan Legions, but also by the Astartes of the Iron Hands, who it was said were preparing to unleash some terrible weapon from the depths of the Noctis Labyrinthus. Perturabo yearned to go to Mars, but with the Sons of Horus standing ready to make planet-fall on Terra, they had no choice. Desperate entreaties from the Mechanicus quickly turned to bitter, angry threats, and the ultimatum that if they did not come immediately, they ‘would be as if dead’ to the Adeptus Mechanicus for all eternity. All manner of poisonous accusations were made, calling the Iron Warriors oath-breakers and worse, so that the fleet had long-since blocked their frequencies by the time global transmissions from the red planet fell ominously silent. Warfare raged across the length and breadth of Terra, but the Iron Warriors were drawn inexorably to the Imperial Palace. It was Dorn's self-proclaimed masterwork of defensive engineering, the trigger for the feud that dated back to Schravann. Now it would be their pleasure to tear it down brick by brick. The Warmaster had tasked them only with bottling up the traitors inside, which would slow down their progress to gain entry to The Emperor’s throne room. The longer their attention was diverted from His real location, the more time the Master of Mankind would have to bring His plans to fruition. Perturabo, however, was not content simply to bombard the palace from afar. He wanted to break the walls and prove to Dorn once and for all the superiority of his legion’s siege-craft. The Iron Warriors tested the palace's defences and defenders with vigor, gaining valuable insights about the weakness of the design, but losing many battle-brothers in the process. Seeing this, Horus told him to pull back, that these brethren would be needed later. Even Konrad Curze, half a world away, contacted Perturabo and begged him to withdraw. The Iron Warriors, however, had not turned their backs on liberating the garrison worlds and on their friends in the Mechanicum only to walk away from confronting their most hated enemy and the chance of ending Dorn's Heresy once and for all. On the fifty-fifth day of the siege, the Iron Warriors forced a breach in Dorn's supposedly unbreakable palace, and in doing so proved their superiority to the Imperial Fists in siege warfare. However, their attack was repulsed, though not by Rogal Dorn, but by Sanguinius and his Blood Angels. By the end of the battle hundreds of their brothers lay dead in the rubble, yet none broke their cold hearts as surely as the sight of the shattered body of Perturabo. Devastated by the senseless loss of their Primarch, the Iron Warriors regrouped for yet another assault upon the Ultimate Gate. Ignoring even the orders of Warmaster Horus, they seemed intent on joining Perturabo in death, and only through the personal intervention of The Emperor Himself were the Iron Warriors brought back to their senses. With great reluctance they withdrew to fortify the new centre of Imperial resistance – the Astronomicon. These bulwarks became vital when the traitors breached the walls of the throne room and realized that they had been deceived. The Iron Warriors proved to be as valiant in defense as in attack, and their efforts were pivotal not just at keeping the Traitor Legions at bay, but for inflicting horrendous losses upon them in the process. Their technical knowledge was also invaluable in reconfiguring the Astronomicon, first to weaken the daemonic legions across Terra, and later, after the conclusion of the Heresy, to sustain the critically wounded Emperor in both body and spirit. The Iron Cage Worlds Although Dorn was dead and his minions in full retreat from Terra, the Chaos Legions were far from a spent force. Brutal internecine struggles still raged across the Imperium, and the fleeing Traitor Astartes did all they could to fan the flames of war as they passed. On some worlds they paused for longer, creating festering centers of corruption with which to bring down surrounding planets. Worst of all were the worlds firmly garrisoned by the Imperial Fists. Their presence, and effect for the Traitor cause, had been a heavy burden to bear, and so before the embers had even cooled on Terra, the legion set off to fulfill Perturabo's pledge to reclaim them. Their quest was given fresh urgency by the taunting transmissions from these worlds. They told of populations being worked to death as slaves and sacrificed to the Dark Gods to turn each planet into a fortress. The Legion Master’s decision to have each Grand Company simultaneously attack a different world to prevent them from finishing their fortifications was initially welcomed as a bold stroke worthy of Perturabo. In truth, it was simply the action of a man driven by grief, and unable to match the skill and judgment of his late Primarch. Each Grand Company had links with a different world, and the arguments over which should be liberated first had threatened to tear the legion apart. They arrived to discover that they had been misled, and that the fortifications were already complete. Mourning for their lost Primarch had erased all trace of their normal analytical detachment, and so across a dozen worlds the already depleted Grand Companies walked willingly into the traps that had been set for them. In what became known as the Iron Cage Campaign, the Iron Warriors found themselves embroiled in bloody stalemates. They had insufficient forces to decisively break the enemy’s interlocking Chaos-enhanced fortifications, and too much pride to withdraw from the field. Time after time they stormed bastions, only to find the enemy had already withdrawn, and that the place they had died to claim had been turned into the next killing ground. While they bore their losses stoically, the frustration at never truly getting to grips with the enemy ate away at them. They were haunted by memories of the siege of the Imperial Palace, where they had broken through at great cost only to find their most hated enemy nowhere to be found. As the Iron Cage closed ever-tighter, the same story was being played out across each planet. By a process of grinding attrition the Iron Warriors were being driven to the point of extinction. When barely a quarter of their number remained battle-ready, the Traitor Astartes finally went on the offensive. Recognising their imminent destruction, yet welcoming the chance to finally meet their enemy face to face, only the timely intervention of Abaddon leading a coalition of loyal Astartes prevented their annihilation and broke the Iron Cage. Having resigned himself to his fate, Kruger was surprised to feel the weight of the traitor lift from his chest. Blinking the blood from his eyes, he dimly made out the brutalized corpse of the Imperial Fist being hauled up and thrown effortlessly to one side. Despite the repainted black Terminator armor, Kruger could not fail to recognize his savior. With a grateful nod, he took Abaddon's proffered hand, and rose unsteadily to his feet. Stunned, speechless, he looked out over the battlefield and saw Astartes bearing the liveries of the Death Guard, Thousand Sons, Night Lords, Word Bearers and Abaddon's renamed Black Templars falling upon the now embattled Imperial Fists and putting them to the sword. "Apologies for our intervention in your warzone, Warsmith Kruger," came the bass growl, "But the Iron Warriors' skills are required upon Terra. We have an empire to rebuild." Refortifying the Imperium With the galaxy ravaged by the devastation of the Dornian Heresy, the Iron Warriors were tasked with refortifying first Terra, and then the wider Imperium. They extended and rebuilt the fortifications around the Astronomicon, transforming it into an armored city far more imposing than the old Imperial Palace. Having seen how effective the garrison worlds had been in imposing order, the legion returned once more to that format. Worlds of strategic importance were chosen, including those guarding the main routes through the Imperium, centers of industrial production, and in particular the Praeses fortress-worlds which stand sentinel around the Eye of Terror. Bereft of support from the Mechanicum, they instead drew tithes from the garrison worlds. This took the form of raw materials, war production, and to help cement the relationship with the planets they were defending, recruits. To ensure the mistake of the Great Crusade was not repeated, where they rapidly found themselves overstretched and isolated, they expanded far above their pre-Heresy levels. This was augmented further still with the addition of vast numbers of weapon servitors, war machines and other, more specialized engines of destruction. This allowed them to be pro-active in defense and strike out at enemies before they got an opportunity to attack. Another factor that drove their expansion was that while they appreciated Abaddon's intervention in breaking the Iron Cage, the thought of being beholden in such a way, even to a close ally, now went against their nature. Their distrust is not restricted to their brother Astartes. Such is their disdain of the accuracy of ordnance laid down by the Imperial Army and Navy, and the losses they sustained due to their incompetence, that the creation of their own force of heavy artillery became a high priority. Similarly, the chilly relationship with the Adepts of Mars refused to thaw after the Heresy, and if anything grew frostier as the Mechanicum slipped into superstition. To fill the gap, the Iron Warriors built war machines along similar patterns to the massive Ordinatii, towering Knight class walkers and even, it is rumored, Titans. The Adepts of Mars complained bitterly of this, claiming that such things must have been looted, but the Iron Warriors defiantly maintain that they are solely the results of their own ingenuity. While the legion has certainly been observed to recover damaged Mechanicum assets from the battlefield, such items are always scrupulously delivered back to their forge world of origin. Before the heavy transport had even settled, the brother-lieutenant was out of his command chair and prowling through the lower cargo deck. At his command, row upon row of mobile weapons platforms chirruped inside their transit bays as their controlling gun-servitors awoke. He stalked purposely down towards the rear bay doors until something caught his eye; the designator tattoo on the paper-dry skin of a servitor. The first few characters - JZ03 – were the same as those on his arm... they had both come from the same garrison world. The legion made great play of how recruiting from those worlds forged an unbreakable bond, but the dirty truth was that unless you were Olympian-born, your fate was to serve as one of these dead-eyed servitors. He had been the exception, of course. Through sheer ability, determination and guile he had risen through the ranks, but even that didn’t stop the distrust and disrespect so casually cast his way. As if on cue, the command-link crackled into life. "Half breed - what's the hold-up? Get these damn doors open!" came the familiar barracking tone of Fennix, his 'superior' officer. He bit back his acid reply, mentally filed away the insult for later retribution and signaled the cargo doors to open. From the auspex scans the Traitor gene-seed facility seemed surprisingly heavily protected, boasting armored battalions, infantry and even the characteristic void-returns of Titans! The coming battle was going to be bloody and brutal. Good, thought Lieutenant Honsou. It was just the way he liked it. Of all the Traitor Astartes to plague the Imperium, it is those of the former Imperial Fists that draw the majority of the legion’s attention. Whether they call themselves Black Legion, Scions of Dorn or Crimson Fists, the Iron Warriors take every opportunity to engage them. The elusive nature of the Blood Angels has meant that prospects of bring them conclusively to battle have been all-too rare. The exception to this was on Mackan in late M37, when they drew the plague legion into a trap that resulted in the slaughter of the better part of two Great Companies, and afforded the Iron Warriors a measure of vengeance for the death of their Primarch. This focus on the Chaos Legions, especially around the Eye of Terror, has come at the expense of the border with Guilliman's Ultramar Segmentum. For all the legion’s size and power, even they cannot effectively garrison its entire length. Worlds under their aegis resist this implacable advance far better than those around them, which has resulted in small, embattled enclaves of the Imperium deep inside Ultramar space. Legion Homeworld Under the rule of the Iron Warriors, adamantium and ceramite joined quarried stone to transform Olympia into a fortress-world of unprecedented proportions. The original city-states have become towering armored hives dedicated to the support of the legion. Crowned with void shields and defense lasers, their summits reach high above the clouds. Competition between hive cities to provide arms, vehicles and recruits for the Astartes is intense, and not always friendly. Since the uprising at the start of the Dornian Heresy, the population has been subject to strict controls. Anything that might disrupt the smooth running of the planet is ruthlessly suppressed, be it misguided subversives, agents of the Ruinous Powers or the excessive rivalry of competing hives. Olympia is at the centre of a web of production that stretches clear across the Imperium, with an output to rival some of the larger forge worlds. Tithes of raw materials flow in from the garrison worlds, and in return, finely crafted weapons of war pass back to supply the Iron Warriors in their campaigns. To this end, Olympia is encircled with orbiting shipyards, solar collectors, space-docks and defense platforms. The fortified nature of Olympia extends far beyond this, though, with fleets of warships, minefields and early warning systems standing ready to challenge any unauthorized visitor. The Alexiares Spaceport Designed by Perturabo after his first visit to Mars, but not completed until nearly two thousand years after his death, the Alexiares spaceport is one of the technological wonders of the Imperium. Sitting as it does in geosynchronous orbit over Mount Anticetus, Olympia’s tallest mountain, it is the primary conduit for materials entering and leaving the planet. By lowering adamantium cables through the atmosphere until they reached the base station at the mountain’s summit, they created elevators able to move bulk goods from orbit to the surface and back in an incredibly efficient manner. Once enclosed and pressurized, the spaceport became in effect the tallest building in the Imperium, boasting a capacity and efficiency far outstripping transport by orbital shuttles. Given its iconic status, its vital industrial role, and the damage caused across Mars when the Uranius Patera orbital elevators were destroyed during the Heresy, the greatest of care is taken to protect this structure from attack. Legion Organisation After the horrors of the Iron Cage Worlds, and the shame of being saved by Abaddon's Massed Crusades, the Iron Warriors resolved never to find themselves in such a position again. To that end they aggressively recruited, so that their Grand Companies contain far beyond the thousand front-line Astartes they had before the Heresy. Most warsmiths are now able to command at least five thousand battle-brothers, and twenty times that number of servitors. The foundation of each Grand Company is its armory, and the quality and quantity of its output is a source of great pride. Rather than being a separate department, the Apothecarion is subservient to the Master of the Forge, and is responsible as much for creating and maintaining the legion's army of servitors as for ministering to their Astartes brethren. Their innate suspicion frequently sparks rivalries within the legion, and competition between lieutenants is positively encouraged by warsmiths, the better to spur them on to greater efforts, and is only reined in when it threatens to become destructive to the legion. Each lieutenant commands hundreds of marines, squadrons of armored vehicles and enough artillery pieces to level whole cities. Periodically these battle-hardened veterans are withdrawn from the front lines to garrison duties, where they are able to refit, repair and replenish their ranks. The task of protecting their garrison worlds is a vital one, as the tithes they bring in are integral to the continued growth of the Iron Warriors. To lose a garrison world is a terrible source of shame, one which a Warsmith will go to great lengths to rectify. The death of a Warsmith, especially if he has not named a clear successor, is a time of great turmoil as ambition and bitter rivalries come to the fore. On rare occasions the power-struggle is so extreme that the only recourse is to request permission from the Council of Warsmiths to divide the forces and create a new Grand Company. This has seen the number of Grand Companies rise beyond their original twelve, although such events are not taken lightly. Most potential Warsmiths calculate that is preferable to wait for the tides of battle and mortality to elevate them to command of a full strength Grand Company than hastily snatch the reins of a weakened one with the corresponding vulnerability that would bring. Specialist Ranks *'Legion Master' - After Perturabo's death, the mantle of Legion Master was taken up by Warsmith Forrix, 'The Breaker', of the First Grand Company. Sadly, his tactical acumen fell far short of that required, and he plunged them headlong into the meat-grinders of the Iron Cage Worlds. He died, along with many hundreds of his brothers, in the frozen hell of High Parsanea, and for his shortcomings his name has been struck from history. Since that time, ultimate power has resided with the Council of Warsmiths, and while the leader of the First Grand Company still bears the title of Legion Master, beyond speaking for the Iron Warriors before to the High Lords of Terra, the role is largely ceremonial. *'The Trident' - The Trident is composed of three exalted Warsmiths of the IVth Legion known as the Triarchs who once attended Perturabo as his personal advisors. Following his death during the Siege of the Imperial Palace, they continue to perform their sacred duty by serving the Legion Master. The Trident exists outside the rest of the IVth Legion's regular command structure. Together the Trident functions as the soul of the Iron Warriors, supporting their Legion master and steering the IVth Legion's temperament and decisions. Only those Warsmiths who possess the necessary qualities of strength and charisma are ever allowed to serve at the Legion Master's side. In honour of the Lord of Iron, members of the Trident are held to the highest standards, for he would expect nothing less than the most extreme discipline and loyalty from his Triarchs, but most of all it is expected that they show unbending obedience to the orders given to them. Each blade of the Trident is as solid and unbending as the hand that wields it. *'Triarch' - An honourary rank reserved only for each of the three exalted Warsmiths who composed the IVth Legion's advisory Trident. *'Warsmith' - The title of Warsmith was an honourary rank held by the senior Astartes Captains who commanded the IVth Legion's Grand Battalions. It was granted for exceptional skill and valour in carrying out the Legion's assaults and gave its bearer command over several of the IVth Legion's companies, which were combined into the larger unit known as a Grand Battalion. *'Honourable' - An honourary rank held by the esteemed member of the Iron Warriors that conducted the meetings of the Dodekatheon. Specialist Formations *'Tyrant Siege Terminator Squad' - The vanguard of any Iron Warriors siege breakers formation, these warriors are clad in thick Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour and deadly carapace-mounted Cyclone Missile Launchers. These implacable warriors are fortress-breakers of unparalleled skill. Recruited from amongst the most battle-hardened Iron Warriors, Tyrant Siege Terminators are expected to brave the most ferocious enemy fire without regard for their own survival. Most often these veteran warriors are found among the ranks of the Stor-Bezashk, the elite siege masters of the IVth Legion, and deployed to other Grand Battalions as needed to support siege and assault actions. *'Iron Havoc Support Squad' - The Iron Havoc Support Squads of the IVth Legion are an elite formation who have elevated the tactics of saturating an area or targetting enemy armour with heavy ordnance through sheer weight of fire almost to an art. These warriors are amongst the finest marksman of the Iron Warriors, placing both shell and explosive blast with exacting precision as they advance alongside the Legion's assault cadres. *'Iron Circle' - Formed in the wake of the attack aboard Perturabo's flagship, the Iron Blood, during the Battle of Phall, the Iron Circle is a self-sustaining unit of implacable killers, devoted servants and incorruptible praetorians all in one. The Iron Circle is composed of six Colossus-class battle-automata who served as the Primarch Perturabo's Shield Breakers and personal Honour Guard during the Horus Heresy. Each automaton bore the heraldry of a IVth Legion warrior, and their cold machine hearts were loyal in the way it was only a possible for an unthinking machine to be. Following the death of their Primarch during the Battle of Terra, the Iron Circle now serve the Legion Master. *'Stor-Bezashk' - The Stor-Bezashk are the siege masters of the Iron Warriors Legion, a host of ordnance and heavy artillery specialists who commands firepower like no other. The Stor-Bezashk are also high explosive ordnance experts and are responsible for crafting the necessary earth-breaching charges used by the Iron Warriors' massive siege-works once the most functional and desirable location for the breach in the enemy's defences has been identified. The Brethren of the Iron Warriors There exists in the ranks of the Iron Warriors a series of long-standing warrior societies that existed outside of the Legion's military order and command structure, and which seldom became known to outsiders. By some accounts these are so firmly entrenched that they resist any outside influence. These warrior societies included the following: *'Dodekatheon' - The Dodekatheon, also known as the Brethren of Stone, is the oldest, most numerous and influential of the warrior societies of the IVth Legion. The Brethren of Stone is an order of masons and strategists whose origins predate the Legion's connection to Perturabo and Olympia. Originating first as a tactical symposium in the style of the Warcaste Metistraad culture of Terra, it focuses on siege craft as well as the field of military architecture. Upon Perturabo's re-joining with the IVth Legion, the Primarch massively expanded the organisation, renaming it as the Dodekatheon after the cultural and political traditions of Olympia. The Olympian Dodekatheon was a cyclical gathering of the twelve greatest Tyrant households of Olympia for the purposes of resolving disputes and forging allegiances. It also featured extensive wargames and tournaments between the households present, and the matter of artisans and warriors, who would show off their skills either to the glory of their patrons or in the hopes of employment. The Legion's Dodekatheon took on these trappings, becoming over time a venue of contest and exchange for its foremost warriors, officers, builders and strategists -- met without rank and on equal footing -- to test their mettle and further their learning. It is where its members fight and re-fight bloodless wars in simulation, unveiling new designs, pour over battle reports and military intelligence, and vie for position and the respect of their peers and their Primarch. Although Perturabo enforced rigid discipline in his Legion and would countenance no disruption due to vendetta, the Dodekatheon continues to serve as a well-spring of value for the Legion's internal rivalries as much as an academy of war. In theory the Dodekatheon is open to all Iron Warriors, but in practice only those who have distinguished themselves in war attend. *'Apolakron' - The Apolakron, known as the Brethren of Steel, is a smaller shadow organisation which operats in many ways as a division of the larger Dodekatheon; the Apolakron's particular focus is on machine-craft; Battle-automata, both in their construction and maintenance, and their employment in war. It exists in an uneasy alliance with the Mechanicum, save those Tech-priests who have long-served the Iron Warriors directly and is viewed with particular suspicion by elements of the Legio Cybernetica, who see it not as a kindred group, but rather a rival to their monopoly on the arcane knowledge they hold. *'Kheledakos' - The Kheledakos, known as the Brethren of Cold, owe its origins to the aftermath of the IVth Legion's early campaigns under Perturabo, the Kheledakos, although led and commanded by Astartes, also encompasses the senior officers and Mechanicum magi, engineers and shipwrights who maintain and crew the Legion's warships. Its base of operations is the Black Citadel, Olympia's principal and most heavily fortified orbital shipyard, and void warfare and the construction and design of warships and assault craft are its obsession. *'Lyssatra' - The Lyssatra, known as the Brethren of Thunder, are the most obscure and cult-like of the Legion's warrior societies, and are disparagingly known within the IVth Legion as the "burned men". It is something of a pariah group whose members contain some of the Legion's more unhinged and war-brutalised gun-crafters, weaponsmiths and ordnancers. Their obsession is creating destruction and devastation, far beyond what even the rest of the Legion generally considers sane or practical, and are darkly rumoured to have had truck with strange occult ideology and xeno-technology in secret. *'Tyranthikos' - The Tyranthikos or "Dominators" are a Veteran core of line breakers and assaulters who have each survived a score of desperate and bloody sieges to receive the name, and are the foremost proponents of Terminator Armour within the Legion. They are seeded throughout the ranks of the Grand Battalions. Legion Combat Doctrine Masters of siege warfare and attrition assault tactics, the Iron Warriors favour the use of murderous firepower as their principal agency of war, and are renowned for their use of heavy armour and fortifications, spurning vainglorious ideals of personal combat and valour for the brutal determination to achieve victory by any means necessary. This culminated in tactical formations such as that which became known as the Hammer of Olympia; designed to carry out an unyielding close range attack and shatter the strongest enemy defence line under a weight of armoured warriors and a hurricane of fire. To the uninitiated outsider, the Iron Warriors simply deploy overwhelming firepower to pound their foes into submission, before assaulting the survivors. In truth, their approach is far more analytical, subtle and above all, effective. They retain Perturabo's keen intellect, and see the defeat of the enemy as a puzzle to be cracked. In defense they make great use of fixed positions, bunkers and heavy gun emplacements so that even a small number of Iron Warriors can effectively defend a large area from attack. Every aspect is optimized to give clear lines of sight and interlocking fields of fire. Terrain, obstacles and minefields funnel the enemy almost subliminally into optimal killing zones, and the extensive use of high-functioning weapon servitors frees the Astartes themselves to act as a reserve force able to respond to the unexpected, and for their inevitable counter-strike. They are also able to rapidly assess a situation and react accordingly. The most famous example was when the infantry of the Third Grand Company transformed the shattered outskirts the Fortunis hive city into a killing ground within hours of arrival. This stalled the greenskin assault long enough for the Iron Warriors to deploy the full might of their arsenal down from orbit and defeat the horde once and for all. On the attack, they take the same clinical approach. Powerful scans, rolling bombardments and infiltrating feints probe the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses, and inform their strategy. Each Grand Company uses a different approach, based upon the guiding philosophy of their Warsmith and the equipment in their armory. Most follow the traditional route of a massed armored blitzkrieg of Vindicators and Fellblades, backed up with mechanized infantry in Land Raiders. The Eighth and Thirtieth Grand Companies, however, prefer to circumvent the enemy’s defenses entirely; utilizing extensive teleporter arrays or tunneling vehicles respectively to strike at the very heart of the stronghold. Others use even more exotic equipment, such as the massive Ordinati of the Sixth, Ninth and Sixteenth Grand Companies and the mighty Knight walkers of the Twentieth that dwarf even dreadnoughts. Before the Heresy, the Iron Warriors worked closely with the forces of Mars, with the Scriptorum Maxis on Olympia mentioning many instances of Perturabo going to battle aboard the Corvus assault pod of a Warlord Titan. Rumors persist that the First Grand Company still has access to such things, although if they have ever been used, no enemy has ever witnessed it and lived to tell the tale. Legion Beliefs The legion is methodical and coldly logical in its approach, and is certain that any problem or obstacle will yield to them in time. The worst tragedies in their history, such as the battle at the Ultimate Gate or the Iron Cage Campaign have occurred when they have embraced passion over reason. Bitter experience has left them mistrustful of others, and in response they have striven to armor themselves against any chance of further betrayal. They remain steadfastly loyal to The Emperor, greatly respecting the rational, secular galaxy He had tried to build, and so have little time for the deification espoused by the Word Bearers. Similarly, such esoteric practices as the use of psychic powers are treated with deep distrust. Though they grudgingly accept the vital role that astropaths and navigators play in the day-to-day running of the Imperium, the study of such things is seen as an unsuitable vocation for an Iron Warrior. In the absence of psychically talented brother-librarians to combat the wiles of the daemonic and the witch, the Iron Warriors have instead applied their technological skills to the task. For the Grand Companies standing sentinel around the Eye of Terror, the null fields and weaponry from the forges of Olympia are prized above even a plentiful supply of ammunition. These devices are seen as yet another kind of fortress, one which protects them against the insidious denizens and whispered madness of the Warp. Legion Gene-Seed As well as Perturabo's cold, analytical logic, traits such as suspicion and even paranoia have been passed onto his marines. Initially the gene-seed of the Iron Warriors was a model of efficiency, but over the millennia a slow but steady deterioration has occurred in some of their implants. Although the Occulobe, Larraman's Organ and Omophagea perform well in new initiates, over time they lose their effectiveness. These deficiencies have been addressed where possible by the use of augmetics, so that it is common for veteran Iron Warriors to be fitted with bionic eyes, and to rely heavily upon information from their amour’s auto-senses. An implant which has shown no sign of degradation over the millennia is the Catalepsean Node, which allows the brain to stay alert for long periods and reduces the need for sleep. Given their extensive duties as garrison troops this is a vital survival trait, as an Iron Warrior without a finely honed ability to stay alert to the approach of enemies would not live long enough to pass on his gene-seed to the next generation. Chief Apothecary Ansul left the office of the Master of Forges barely able to mask his rage. First to be admonished for not reaching the target for new initiates handed down by the Warsmith, and then to be rebuked for the ever-increasing levels of gene-seed instability! The man knew the reason for the degradations as well as he. Time and again over the millennia the Apothecaria had been forced to loosen the checks on gene-seed purity to meet the demands of recruiting. His protests had been given short shrift, and his plea to implement more stringent gene-seed checks had been denied. Even his warnings about the effect of the Grand Company's current proximity to the Eye of Terror had been waved aside as though it was of little consequence. For the last ten thousand years they had been complicit in polluting the Perturabo gene-line. Ansul had wanted to grab the man and shake the complacency out of him, but knew that to lay a hand on his master would result in his death. He thought of the many times he had treated that arrogant fool on the field of battle, saving his life on countless occasions, and realized that perhaps there was another way to deal with the problem... Legion Fleet *''Iron Blood'' (Gloriana-class Battleship) - A formidable vessel built within Olympia's orbital fleet yards, it served as Perturabo's flagship during the Great Crusade and Dornian Heresy eras, and continues to serve as the IVth Legion's flagship. *''Deathwind'' (Battle Barge) *''Contrador'' (Legate-class Battle Barge) - The Contrador served during the Great Crusade and Dornian Heresy eras as a secondary flagship of the IVth Legion. *''Benthos'' (Grand Cruiser) - Served as the flagship for the Iron Warriors 14th Grand Company during the Great Crusade and Dornian Heresy. *''Calibos'' (Grand Cruiser) *''Dominator'' (Grand Cruiser) *''Ferrous Malice'' (Grand Cruiser) *''Grim Paragon'' (Grand Cruiser) *''Merciless Spite'' (Unknown Class) . *''Stheno'' (Grand Cruiser) *''Tyche's Lament'' (Unknown Class) - Flagship of Warsmith Kyr Vhalen and his 77th Grand Battalion during the Great Crusade and Dornian Heresy eras. *''Indomitable'' (Ramilies-class Star Fort) Legion Appearance Legion Colours The Iron Warriors predominantly wear power armour of a deep metallic hue, trimmed with gold and marked with yellow and black industrial chevron symbols. They care little for trophies and embellishments, instead preferring to prove their strength and prowess through acts of large-scale destruction. Often, their battle-plate is weathered and heavily scarred by the rigours of battle, which they display proudly. Tactical Markings Like most of the Legiones Astartes, the Iron Warriors employ a wide range of symbols, icons and heraldry, much of it derived from the earliest precepts of the Dictorum Armourial, some from the cultural idioms of the world on which their Primarch was discovered and still some more evolved as the Legion developed its own unique identity. The Iron Warriors are notable for their characteristic focus on brutally functional icons devoid of superfluous embellishment and a relative lack of individualism or personal ornamentation, traits very much in line with the personality of their Primarch. Legion Badge The Legion's badge is that of a winged-iron mask formed into a shape of a skull, with a pair of lightning bolts striking downwards, an ancient symbol reminiscent of the early iconography utilised during the Unification Wars. Upon seeing this symbol, few doubt the intent and grim determination of this stalwart Legion. Trivia This article was originally authored by Aurelius Rex over on the Bolter & Chainsword forums. All rights are reserved to him. Gallery IW Tyrant Termi.png|An Iron Warriors Tyrant Siege Terminator arrayed in relic Cataphractii Terminator Armour and armed with a Cyclone Missile Launcher. IW Hvy Spt Legionary.png|An Iron Warriors Iron Havoc Heavy Support Legionary Category:I Category:First Founding Category:Imperium Category:Loyalists Category:Space Marine Legions Category:Space Marines